The first two cells of the Layon landfill, which opened in September 2011, will be full during the next few years, and District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood on Thursday ordered that newly hired Guam Solid Waste Authority General Manager Greg Martin be given full authority to oversee their closure and the opening of a new cell.

The two cells were expected to last until August 2021, but are filling up more quickly than projected, according to court documents filed last August.

The decision to hand off responsibility for those projects to the Guam Solid Waste Authority is the first tangible shift of solid waste operations from the court-appointed receivership back to the Guam government.

Receivership

Tydingco-Gatewood has set June 30 as the possible end of the receivership, which started in 2008 after GovGuam failed to meet court-ordered deadlines to build a new landfill and close the environmentally hazardous Ordot dump. Receiver Gershman, Brickner and Bratton completed the tasks. The receivership has cost Guam more than $18.2 million, through the end of last fiscal year.

In her order issued Thursday, the judge said she wants updates on tasks that must be completed before the receivership can end: a classification and pay plan for the solid waste employees who will be transitioned from the receiver’s employment to the local government; and the adoption of new solid rules and regulations. The Solid Waste Authority plans to use the same rules and regulations that were implemented by the receiver.

She also wants to know whether the Guam Solid Waste Authority will continue the recycling program that was started by the receiver. The free curbside recycling program was created to reduce the amount of waste entering the new landfill, extending the life of the cells.

The judge also asked for an update on the Solid Waste Authority’s proposed budget for Fiscal 2019.

Lawmakers created the Guam Solid Waste Authority as a new, autonomous agency of the government of Guam. Solid waste operations had been a division of the Department of Public Works.

Tydingco-Gatewood said she wants the information by March 16, in advance of the March 20 status hearing she scheduled in connection with the receivership.